I hope this starts an investigation!

For those of you that read my previous post, The Job From Hell, The Boss of your Nightmares and the Cowardly Coworkers, You know that my boss was a psychopathic cunt. I was fired 2 months after I posted that (NO, not for posting it, I change names, remember). I was fired because of the reasons you will read below. Below is an email I sent to the corporate HR, the plant manager and his boss, the VP as I was advised by multiple outside agencies (The email (in this brownish colour)is exactly as I sent it with only names changed … Any side notes I enter will be in [Green in square brackets]. Also, pictures are added for my (and your?) amusement and were not in the email). Without the money for a lawyer, this is all I can do … but rest assured that if these 3 do nothing I will go over their heads. That bitch will either treat people better or lose her goddamned job. I will make sure of it.

So as a reminder, or sum up for those who didn’t read my previous post (go read it! The link is above):
Andera – the controlling psychopathic boss.
Elise – the lying blameshifter crazy-ass minion.
Suzanne – my (best/favourite) co-worker and IS still my friend.
Brenda – a co-worker. little older, set in her ways and just lovely.
Tonya – another co-worker. I liked her too.

Good Day JOBHP Management,

First and foremost, know that I did not go to LocalHR [I am not even going to give this moron a name] with this matter for a reason. Please read on for that/those reasons.

I do not even know where to begin as I have never been put into this position before. I guess I will start with an introduction. My name is Acrimonious Dragon and I worked at JOBHP in customer service. I had been with JOBHP for approx. 5 months. I started noticing on Day 2 of working there that there were some issues, mostly with Andera (who happened to be my direct manager). It had gotten progressively worse since that day, well I am not sure if it had gotten worse, or I was just seeing more and more. I wanted to go to the local HR, LocalHR (who I now believe to be bias), but I believed that I would lose my job, as my 6 monthprobationary period [6 month probation!! Who the hell does that!!?? 6 months is long enough to see who they cannot break!] was not yet over. I was right.

I apologize for the lengthy email but it is necessary. [It is really long…but most of my posts are. Tee Hee] I am writing with hopes that you will take action and correct the behavior of Andera, Elise and perhaps LocalHR (I am assuming here that you are unaware of the abuse, bullying and harassment that goes on, now you will). First I would like to express my disgust with the release letter that I received. It seemed like a bribe and have not and will not sign it, as I will not be “silenced” to the abuse provided by Andera. I am assuming here that you have access to the copies of the termination and release letter I received, if not I am more than willing to provide scans of them). [These were not attached to email. Attaching to post for your viewing pleasure] [I may also note that despite not signing and stating to LocalHR in an email that I will not sign and do not agree to the terms … they still paid me the extra 2 weeks … suspicious?? … Admission of guilt??]

After settling down for a few weeks, doing some research, seeking advice, finding information and thinking rationally (I was very upset the first couple of days after my termination, knowing it was wrongful, thankfully I am a rational and intelligent woman and know better than to react too quickly while upset, angry or hurt), I realized that JOBHP and management above Andera and LocalHR may not be the problem and perhaps after discovering the abuse, bullying and harassment that is going on they (You) would deal with this in a fair and just manner. Certain people within the company need to be dealt with accordingly (they need to be fired in my opinion, but that decision is in your hands). So I decided to come to you first, hoping that JOBHP is in fact the company I think it is. I am not trying to “make trouble”, I want justice (for lack of a better term), I want people, your employees, my friends and (ex) co-workers, to be treated with respect and fairness from now on. I want them to NOT be abused, Harassed and bullied. I want their mental health to be intact and to not live in fear of Andera and her “gang” (Elise and LocalHR). Despite the fact that I was on probation, I was wrongly [should that have said “wrongfully”? Damnit!] terminated, but this letter is more to stop the harassment, abuse and bullying. So the story is as follows.

I kept a journal that I started on May 20th because I needed to keep track of the horrible abuse people were suffering through the hands of Andera (and Elise). I kept this journal because I intended to go to HR and complain about how people are treated by Andera after my probation was over or as the case is now, in case I was fired for no good reason. (I am willing to provide scans of pages from this journal if they are required) [Sorry, I am not uploading those pages for public viewing]. The thing is I know the reason(s) I was fired, despite not being given a reason other than “it didn’t work out”, (Literally, when I asked LocalHR Why, she stated “It just didn’t work out” … is that even legal??) [Seriously.. is it?] and I believe the main reasons are Not because of my work (Because again, not to toot my own horn but, I was Extremely good at my job!) but as follows:

My belief that the main reason I was fired is that during a harassment claim put in on Andera, I was brought in to speak (Sept 9) with LocalHR as a witness to some incidents. During this investigation, I mentioned my journal and offered it up as evidence to help a co-worker and put an end to Andera’s abuse. I was wrong. When LocalHR dismissed my journal I knew instantly 2 things were about to happen 1. LocalHR was Bias and this investigation was not going to amount to much and 2. I was about to be fired. Yep I saw that coming (The proof of that is in the “keep your mouth shut and we will pay you” release (bribe?) letter that I refuse to sign).

Elise does not like me, because I stand up to her and do (did) a much better job than her. Why does this matter? Because Elise is Andera’s “little Princess”. Elise can do no wrong in Andera’s eyes and NEVER gets into trouble (by Andera) no matter how much she messes up. Andera may have the manager title, but what Elise says, goes. Also no one is allowed do a better job than Elise because Andera doesn’t want Elise to be “Shown up”. The word in the “rumour mill” is that the last Customer service girl (xxxxxxx [I am not going to bother giving her a name, I will likely never mention her again]) was terminated because Elise didn’t like her either. Now I have no proof of that one as I was not with JOBHP at the time of Jacklyn’s employment with JOBHP … but an awful lot of people seem to have the same opinion on that …

I made friends with Suzanne. Why should that matter? Because it is quite obvious that Andera has a high level of hatred for Suzanne. Plain and simple. (Andera seemingly made several attempts to stop a friendship by demanding we not talk to each other and for me to never ask Suzanne questions).

I hope it was not because I left for a funeral. But just in case I will throw that in here… A close family member passed away Sept 17th and I went back to NB for funeral and arrangements. I called Andera the following Monday (Sept 19) and she agreed that I could stay for 2 weeks using bereavement and vacation days. 3 days after my return I was fired. Pretty inconsiderate and disgusting. I just lost the woman who raised me and I come back to lose my job as well.

I liked it at JOBHP, the company “seems” great (I say seems, as I want to wait and see if this email will be swept under the rug and ignored or not) and the majority of the people I worked with were wonderful. I liked what I did and I did it VERY well. It is the bullying and harassing and these issues seeming to not be addressed that I have a problem with. While most of my concern is the way Suzanne is treated, please understand that, Andera (and Elise) in fact treat almost everyone in a bullying manner and with disrespect. Unless a person is management, in which case they both get, what seems to me as, uncomfortably “flirty” or “overly friendly” if you will.

I will start with Andera.

Here, I will give you a few examples (summed up from a few journal entries…but there are MANY more). My (Biggest) concern is that Andera is a Bully and she harasses and abuses employees (Suzanne more than anyone).

Andera bullies, harasses, abuses, belittles, scolds, yells, micromanages, makes accusations, blames and makes demands. She is Rude and unprofessional. She lies, manipulates and plays favourites. She is sneaky, spies and eaves drops. She embarrasses staff and just plainly treats employees like crap. She plays/fakes nice and sweet when anyone of consequence is around (Such as other management or customers) in an attempt to make herself look like a good manager and person, but she is a different person when those people are not around. I assure you she is not a good manager at all and I am not too sure she is even a good person.
She may “get things done” but she does so the WRONG way. A good manager treats their employees with respect. This manager (Andera) is going to lose more good employees, either by them quitting, her firing them because she doesn’t like them, or a mental breakdown caused by her (Which was VERY close to happening to me). I have been told that JOBHP does not have a high turnover rate for employees because it is a good company … How is the turnover rate for this location of JOBHP customer Service department? [JOBHP has locations all over North America] I am betting it is a bit higher than the JOBHP average…

Andera seems to have it out for Suzanne and I worry that Suzanne is the next target on the “firing” list. She (Andera) picks and picks and picks on Suzanne, day in and day out. It is stressful and uncomfortable for all. I sat next to Suzanne all day and I watched her struggle with the way she is treated. I watched her struggle to keep up because Andera “bothers” her so much throughout the day that she falls behind. I watched her struggle as Andera put her under such a tight microscope that Suzanne’s fear causes her to have more errors than she normally would. We ALL make mistakes, even Andera and especially Elise, Andera just points Suzanne’s out on a regular basis (in front of everyone and anyone!!!) and tries to hide her own errors as well as Elise’s!! (The ONLY reason Andera and Elise APPEAR to be good is that they cover up each other’s errors and blame everyone else) FYI, Suzanne does her job and is GREAT with the customers. We ALL have days in which we fall behind a bit, it just seems that Suzanne is not allowed to have these days. We ALL make mistakes and errors, but it seems Suzanne is not allowed to make any. Suzanne recently (Early September?) had a big panic attack at work which I believe, without a doubt, to be caused by Andera. Suzanne had to be brought to the doctor as she was quite ill due to this attack.

Sometimes I felt as though Andera was stalking me. Nearly every time I’d go for lunch or break or away from my desk at all no matter what the time, she seemed to “follow” me. In fact I tested this theory out and purposely waited for her to finish her lunch and put her dishes in the kitchen before I took my lunch, low and behold [Crap another error LO and behold], she made her appearance in the lunch room, spying on me. It made the other people in the lunchroom uncomfortable as well, as they noticed this too and found it weird and creepy. I worked in fear every day. My anxiety and stress levels were (and still are) through the roof. I felt forced to eat my lunch in my car just to get away from her for a few minutes. If I EVER saw this woman outside of work I think I would file a restraining order. YES, it was/is that bad.

Andera has yelled at me, personally, on a few occasions. Once due to a hearing difficulty and insecurity I have. She snapped at me to look at her while she was talking during a morning “huddle” as she calls them (Which, By the way, in all honestly is a waste of 30 minutes to an hour of EVERYONE’s day). I was Livid. I do not always look at people while they are talking in a group for a couple reasons. I do not like to “stare” and I do not have the best hearing and therefore I will sometimes “aim” my ear to a speaker to hear them better. Also, I am not a 3 year old and resent her speaking to me as if I am. Another time she yelled at me about looking up “notes” that did not even exist. Yes, Actual Yelling.

She belittles me (and others) frequently by scolding, “talking down” to us and taking credit for what others do, to name but a few ways.
For example, she once asked if I understood instructions very condescendingly when Instructions were not actually given. I asked a simple yes or no question to a sales rep and he answered. Period. She very condescendingly asked if I understand those instructions. This was very belittling as she did this in front of other coworkers including the sales rep.

Andera rudely told me not to provide helpful and available information to a sales rep because he can find the information himself, or as I took it, “don’t do things better than Elise”.

Everyone seems to be afraid of Andera including people that do not even work under her. I am not going to mention any other names, but I bet nearly anyone you ask (within the company and has contact with her, with NO fear of losing their job) will have negative things to say about Andera. Most people have told me they are afraid to speak up in fear of their own jobs. And My dismissal is proof that these claims are not unwarranted. These are just a few of the many incidents that occurred with Andera.

Elise is just as bad. She bullies, abuses, belittles, scolds, yells, makes accusations, blames and makes demands just like Andera does. She is also rude, bossy, controlling and lies. She has regular “temper tantrums” when things don’t go her way and will refuse to teach you anything more if you go against her. In one incident, after speaking with co-workers about how Andera was making demands again, Elise got inches away from my face and yelled at me. She has gotten into HUGE yelling matches with both Suzanne and Brenda.
She has outright lied to Andera about me (and others). She has, on multiple occasions, blamed both Tonya and I (and previous employees) for things she did or was responsible for. She has tried to hide evidence of her errors. I overheard her on the phone with someone rudely refusing to give contact information because “they could find it on the Bill of Lading”! She has snapped at pretty much all of the Customer service personnel almost daily. She actually went to HR to make a complaint knowing SHE was the one in the wrong and didn’t want to be the one to get in “trouble” in case we complained so she made us look bad and at that point anything we say is considered defense or retaliation. She is VERY sneaky, conniving and manipulative.[I swear, I have to tell you this actual story … We have been repeatedly told by the psychopathic cunt, Andera, not to talk. Suzanne came to my desk with some papers and was showing me something work related. She was talking very low, whispering, if you will, explaining something WORK RELATED to me. Elise lost her fucking mind and yelled at Suzanne. Then Elise went to HR crying that we were whispering. I kid you not. She is a sneaky manipulative fucking bitch]

Now, I will portray my thoughts and experiences on LocalHR. From what I understand Suzanne has gone to see LocalHR about Andera’s behavior on multiple occasions. It is also my understanding that some other co-workers have gone to speak to LocalHR about Andera, some on behalf of Suzanne. From my perspective, up to this point (or at least up to the day I left) nothing has been done (and I am told that still, nothing has changed) (I wonder if any of these visits to LocalHR were even documented by LocalHR. I truly believe that she helps cover up Andera’s abuse). Andera is still a bully and she still “picks on” and Harasses Suzanne (and anyone who does not do as she says, disagrees with her, or simply does things differently). In fact Suzanne has recently (about 3 months ago) been put on a Personal improvement Plan (PIP) which I believe to be a direct retaliation by Andera, due to Suzanne going to see LocalHR to complain about Andera. Suzanne showed me this “PIP” contract and almost NOTHING on this plan is things anyone else has to do. Andera is simply gunning for Suzanne. As I mentioned above, LocalHR’s take on the harassment claim brought against Andera seems bias and unfair. I believe that my offer to help the situation by offering my journal was a big “nail in my coffin”. I was told by LocalHR, in that meeting, that I would not be fired for anything I said in this meeting. And I specifically asked. I asked mostly because my probation was not up and I feared for the loss of my job, rightly so. She outright lied as far as I can tell and am concerned. And again I state that the proof of this is in the “trying to silence me” release letter I received. What kind of release letter actually tells a person they are not allowed to go to human rights commission? A bribe and admission of guilt letter is what I see. Perhaps it is JOBHPs “General Release” letter, which makes me wonder about JOBHP…Why would you not want harassment and abuse reported?? I have received release letters before and none of them have ever said “you are not allowed to go to human rights commission and you are not allowed to report or speak of the abuse you have encountered and witnessed” and you are not allowed to file a complaint against any of our employees. Typically they say:
Keep our confidential records quiet and things of that nature. Not “keep quiet about the abuse, harassment, lies and bullying you have witnessed and experienced here and we will pay you”. I will NEVER sign a letter like that. Company confidential and proprietary information is one thing, abuse is another and should NEVER be silenced.

A little on me and my work as an FYI. I am a hard worker. I do/did not sit idly, I found myself things to do when there was minimal work to be done. I did my job better than most (if not all) [I should make a note here that Brenda did a different job and therefor I can not officially say I did better than her, and Suzanne was under a lot of stress and missed little things on paperwork or Andera’s made up processes, I think if not for Andera, Suzanne would do so much better …but when it came to customers, it was no contest, Suzanne took the cake. Her customers fucking love her!] I tried to learn everything and anything I could, whether it pertained to my job directly or to JOBHP in general. I was friendly with pretty much everyone I came in contact with. I befriended many. I enjoyed everything, outside of the abuse, bullying and harassment. However, I have anxiety and suffered attacks almost daily while working under Andera and with Elise. I went home and cried nearly daily and I barely slept. I have had “stress” blemish breakouts and was almost always sick to my stomach. I had daily headaches and was tense all day. Sometimes I had trouble breathing and had weird heart palpitations. This was ALL due to Andera (and some Elise). Some of these symptoms have disappeared, as although I was upset, it was a relief to not have to go back to put up with Andera and Elise’s bullying and abuse and LocalHR’s bias “looking the other way”. I considered quitting many times to save my health, just walking out, but then decided to try and make a difference first as we live in a time where this behavior should not be tolerated. I decided to tough it out until my probation was over and take my concerns up with HR … well we now know how that turned out.

I am not trying to be a “trouble maker”, I am simply trying to eliminate the abuse, bullying and harassment of your present and future employees and have them be able to work in a place of honor and respect where they feel safe, comfortable and without fear and abuse. JOBHP failed me and I hope they (you) won’t fail anyone else. Please take this information and investigate. I trust that after reading my email you will take the appropriate course of action. If you have further questions or need more information, please feel free to email me at any time

Thank you kindly for your time and review.

I am actually highly relieved to not be working under that psychopathic cunt any longer… but shit I need a job!!